Vessel-protector.



No. 648,419. Patented May l, |900.

L. F.L0NGM0BE.

VESSEL PROTEUTUR. (Application led Dec. 18, 1899.) (No Mndl.)

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UNITEDL STATES PATENT OFFICE.V

LEWIS F. LONGMORE, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO FRANK E. STOWELL, OF SAME PLACE.

VESSEL-PROTECTO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 648,419,- dated May 1, 1900.

Application iiled December 18,1899. Serial No. 740,728. (No model.)

nular' ledge or guard CZ to prevent the bottle To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEwIs F. LONGMORE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vessel-Protectors, of which the following is a specification. y This invention relates to vessel-protectors, its object being to prevent vessels in exposed positions or out of doors, as cans or bottles containing milk, from being stolen or readily emptied of their contents.

It is now quite common for milkmen to deliver milk to retail customers in glass bottles, the mouths of which are sealed, and these bottles are frequently left at the customers doors in the morning before the customers are out of bed, from which it happens that the bottles are frequently stolen, with their contents, and sometimes the bottles are emptied and only the contents of the bottles are removed by an unauthorized person.

Said invention consists in the devices and combinations hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a device embodying my improvement and of a bottle secured thereby; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the lower or movable head provided with a spring lock or bolt 5 and Fig. 3, a plan of the bottom 'of said vesselprotector, a part of the lock being broken away to show the construction.

A represents a backboard, wall, or; other vertical support for the vessel-protector. The back of the device is represented as comprising an upper section b and a lower section b', each section secured by screws b2 b3 or equivalent means to the support A. A guide (represented as consisting of two rods c c') is secured to the back substantially parallel with the support A.

Heads D D are arranged parallel with each other, one head, preferably the upper head D, being rigidly secured to the back and the other head sliding on the guide c c toward the head D. The heads D D are adapted to hold between them a vessel, as a bottle E or a can, the upper head D having an opening d to receive the upper end of the bottle or can and the lower head D being provided with an anfrom being drawn laterally olf from said lower head.

To the under side of the movable head D is secured a spring-lock F, of any usual construction, having a bolt f, which serves as a detent, being adapted to engage a rack b5, with which the back section b is provided,the outer end of said bolt being beveled 0E on top at f and the teeth 117 of said rack being inclined upward to allow said detent or bolt to slip over said rack-teeth when the head D is raised. A spring f2 keeps the detent or bolt in engagement with the rack, so that the head D cannot be moved away from the head D without rst drawing said detent out of such engagement. This is accomplished by turning a hub f3, which engages with one or the other of two shoulders f4f5, carried by the forked end of the bolt f, said hub being substantially like the hub of a knob-latch of ordinary construction, except that the hub in this lock is turned by a key F' instead of by the ordinary knob-spindle, said hub being slotted diametrically to receivesaid key and the lock-case also being slotted to form a keyhole f6 in an obvious manner.V

The use of the above-described device will prevent the removal of the can or bottle except by a person having a key, and the keys and locks may be so varied, as is well known, that no two persons in the same vicinity shall have like keys.

Without a key the can or bottle can only be removed by the use of tools and a delay which would make the danger to the thief too great to be incurred for the advantage sought.

While the loss of a single can of milk would not be very serious from a pecuniary point of view, yet the loss of the bottle and its con-` tents would prove a very serious inconvenience, which maybe avoided by the use of this invention.

I claim as my inventionl. In a vessel-protector, the combination of a guide, two heads, one iixed and the other movable on said guide, and means for normally permitting said movable head to approach said fixed head and for simultaneously preventing said movable head from moving away from said fixed head.

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2. In a vessel-protector, the combination of a guide, two heads-5 one fixed and the other movable on said guide, and a lock, operated by a suitable key and carried by said movable head and adapted to engage said guide.

3. The'combina-tion of a guide,- two heads, one xed and the other movable onsaid guideA toward said fixed head, a rack, a detent, carried by said movable head, and a spring, to keep said detentL in' engagement with said rack, said heads being adapted to engage the opposite ends of a vessel placed between them. and to retain said vessel in place. y Y,

4. The combination of a guide, two heads, one fixed and theother lnovable on said guide toward said fixed head, a rackyand a springlock, ca'rriedlby said movable head and hav ing abelt adapted normally to engage said rack, to prevent said movable head from' Inoving away from said fixed head, said lock being adapted to be opened by a suitable key to vdraw said boltout of enga-gement with said rack and saidheadsbei'g adapt'edto engage thev opposite ends of a vessel placed between them and to retain said vessel in plaee.

In testimony whereof Ihave axed my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

Y, LEWIS F. LONGMORE l Witnesses: I

ALBERTM. MOORE,

GRACE E. HIBBERT. 

